


What an enchanting world

by lunaemoth



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Modern Girl in Thedas, Panic Attacks, Trespasser Spoilers, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6435241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaemoth/pseuds/lunaemoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda gets sucked into the Dragon Age universe, but where she ends up…isn’t quite Thedas. A barren place with crumbling rocks and floating islands…<br/>The Crossroads.</p><p>It’s a miracle, really. The chance of a lifetime, to experience such an important part of Elvhen history. Except.<br/>There’s no one else. And without the keys to the Eluvians, she's trapped. A magical place full of history, and she's stuck on the highway between. All alone—<br/>“Enchantment?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where enchantments are the best thing ever

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for [MGiT Prompt #7](http://moderngirlinthedas.tumblr.com/post/140372266510). I thought interactions with Sandal would be fun and it grew from here. Let's hope I'll do it justice. 
> 
> NB: I'm french, english isn't my first language and this isn't betaed so you can expect some mistakes. If anything bothers you please send me a nice comment with the correction.
> 
> You can also find me at: ashkaarishok.tumblr.com

Melinda slowly walked around. It was at least more useful than lying down for death to take her. An hour ago, she had a meltdown, the fifth. It had taken her a long time to get back on her feet but now, in the stages of grief, she probably was over depression…

No, not really. She was simply so thirsty and hungry that acceptance had become necessary for survival.

The advantage of being all alone in the middle of nowhere was that at least no-one was witnessing her ugly crying, shouting, muttering and overall crazy behavior.

If she wasn’t mad yet, she would be soon. All those rocks, mirrors and austere landscapes were driving her mad. The worst were those desaturate colors, though. Melinda loved colors more than anything else. This place (she refused to use the name coming to her mind) looked like a dead world. It was depressing. Dehydration and hunger weren’t helping.

“This is useless,” she muttered as she sat down against a big rock (another one) and buried her face in her knees, holding herself tightly. She was shivering from fatigue.

She didn’t even want to cry anymore, she was too tired for the tears to fall. If she could just… fall asleep and never wake up, it would be easier. Her breathing slowed down gradually...

“Enchantment?”

She startled so badly that she fall on her side before straightening up to see a short stocky young man leaning towards her, his wide blue eyes filled with curiosity.

“Am I dead, yet?” She blurted out.

He shook his head quickly from left to right and held out a waterskin under her nose. Parched, she took it without question and drank big mouthfuls, nearly emptying it, before feeling slightly better. “Thank you so much,” she breathed.

“Enchantment!” He replied happily.

She blinked slowly and looked around, thinking that maybe something would pop up to reassure her that this was just a dream. No luck. “Mh… You don’t speak much, do you? Do you have a name at least? Mine is Melinda. You can call me Melly.” She patted her chest and repeat her nickname just in case.

“Melly,” he said, pointing at her before pointing at himself. “Sandal.”

Right, Sandal… That was the name of the simpleminded dwarf in the Dragon Age world, the one who happened to be an enchanter of genius and who was mentioned in Trespasser as having traveled through the Crossroads for a while. The Crossroads where she was… Good lord, if this wasn’t a dream (she never had such vivid ones) maybe she was dead and the afterlife allowed people to live in one of their favorite universes? Who know… For her sake, she should probably just… go with the flow for now.

“Sandal. Alright, hello,” she said softly with a shaky smile. He seemed so carefree that it was endearing. She hoped it wasn’t just pretense before everything morphed into a monster or something…

“Hello!”

“Do you speak my language, then? Do you understand me?

“Enchantment!”

She scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment. “Okay, let’s just try it this way: I’m lost here, I don’t know how to leave, and I have nothing to drink or eat. Can you help me? More than you already did, that is...”

“Enchantment!” Enthusiastically, Sandal gestured for her to follow him and immediately walked away.

Melinda scrambled to comply, dusting her dress distractedly as she went.

 

Sandal led her to one of the countless mirrors filling the place. The eluvians. Feeling desperate, she had tried several time to interact with some of them but nothing had come out of it. Sandal just waved at it and the surface rippled, becoming glowing and fluid. The dwarf just walked into it. Melinda quickly followed, not allowing herself a second to consider the wisdom of it: she was just too scared to be left alone in this spooky place.

There was a strange feeling of displacement who gave her goosebumps, but she arrived safe and sound on the other side… a very sunny and cheerful side, much better than the Crossroads. There was a clearing with a river flowing nearby and fruit trees in rows all around. It looked like an old abandoned orchard, the trees having grown so much that their branches were tangled and their small fruits (the size of a cherry) unreachable.

“Oh, thank God,” she breathed. “Greenery, how I missed you! Are those fruits edible, Sandal?”

“Enchantment!”

Since he nodded, this was probably a yes.

The trees were really tall. She had to do more climbing than she had done since she was a child to reach the first branches and their rewards. Her dress made it harder, so she held it higher than would be considered appropriate. She was too hungry to care. “Mh, it tastes like peaches. They’re really good,” she mumbled around one of them. When she looked down, Sandal was staring at her with a tilt of his head. She swallowed. “You can’t reach those, do you? You can’t climb?”

“Enchantment,” he said with a slight tone of disappointment.

“I’m going to throw you some, catch them,” she offered, carefully doing so to make it easier for him.

Sandal looked delight, it was _really_ endearing. When she fell from the tree as she climbed down, he giggled briefly before rushing to her help when she moaned in pain and rubbed her backside.

“Alright?” He asked.

She gave him a small smile. “I’ll just have a bruise, I think.” Her dress was dirty but intact. Considering she had nothing else to wear, that was a relief.

They ate in silence, mouth and fingers covered in sugary juice. The peaches were ripe and delicious. Once they were done, sticky fingers grabbed her hand and she was led to the river where they washed… and splashed each other: Sandal started it!

This easy camaraderie and being finally free from hunger helped her to feel better, lighter. Still, she looked around uneasily, feeling lost and bereft. How had she ended up there? How?

She had gone to a Renaissance fair with a friend, that much she could remember, that’s why she was wearing a green dress with a white blouse, a brown shawl and boots, garments who weren’t too anachronic with the Dragon Age world. Then it was blurry: all she could remember was a mirror, a full-length mirror like an Eluvian. She had woken up in the Crossroads, far from any mirror she could identify as leading back to her world, and wandered aimlessly for hours.

This was just… crazy, she concluded, choked-up, breathing heavily and shivering.

“Enchantment!” Sandal appeared by her side and gave her a gentle hug, using the fact that she was crouching to reach her shoulders and pat her back.

She blinked repeatedly and forced herself to breath in then breath out slowly.

“Oh, yeah… a panic attack.” She hadn’t experienced one in a while. She hadn’t missed it.

She needed several minutes before she managed to dry the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. She sniffled and smiled weakly at Sandal, who appeared so patient. “Thank you.”

 

Gently, Sandal led her back to the Crossroads and through another Eluvian. This time, she recognized their destination.

“The library,” she breathed, in awe. It was so strange to see those pieces of lands and great buildings upside down. They were majestic and eerie at the same time. “At least, seeing this is cool,” she concluded, trying to be positive to keep at bay another meltdown.

She looked down to speak to Sandal and didn’t find him anywhere. Turning round and round, she finally heard him call “Enchantment!” and remembered that there was some space behind the building they had arrived in. That was where the Inquisitor found Sandal’s diary in the game.

She walked to him, careful to not look down at the nothingness under their feet (she wasn’t afraid of heights thankfully, but still, she had already tried it at her arrival, it was dizzying). “Please, don’t disappear like that, Sandal. This place really scares me…” Apart from its eerie mood, being all alone here scared her more than anything else.

“Enchantment!” Sandal pointed at a bedroll expectantly.

“You want me to rest? … That’s not a bad idea actually,” she admitted with a sigh. “If you don’t mind me using your…” She laughed when he pushed her gently towards it. “Alright then, thanks.”

She had to lay down in a foetal position to fit in, but it was warm and it was as safe as she could get here. Sleep eluded her nonetheless. After an hour, all she got from her attempt was a new outburst of tears.

Sandal, who had been silently working until now, came to her and gently nudged her arm. She looked over her shoulder to see the hairbrush he was showing her. “Your hair is pretty,” he said. “Can I brush it, please?”

That was the most he had ever said to her. It surprised her enough that she nodded dumbly without question, dried her cheeks, and untied her braid to let him do as he wished. She had shiny, thick and light brown hair. Sandal brushed it with infinite patience, humming under his breath as he slowly massaged her scalp before going down her back, where her hair stopped below her shoulder blades.

It was extremely soothing. Lulled by this rhythm, she fell asleep.

When she woke up several hours later, her hair was in a complex braided bun. She decided not to question the good things.


	2. Where the Trespasser plot begins and Solas is scary

Time passed by strangely in the Vir Dirthara. There were no nights and days just like there were no up and down. Sandal didn’t seem bothered by it at all,but for Melinda it was one more detail that confused her and made all this surreal. It didn’t help her with falling asleep either. She focused on the present moment with a desperate focus, taking in a discovery after another.

First of all, the library, of course. It was a big maze, yet Sandal walked around without difficulty and without fear. Melinda tried to follow him as much as she could. Sometimes she got lost or Sandal disappeared and she called for him until she heard an “Enchantment!” that basically meant “Here!”. It was their personalized version of a Marco Polo game.

Sandal never seemed bothered by her, whether she shadowed him, clung to him, lingered where she shouldn’t have and forced him to take her by the hand like an unruly schoolgirl… His patience was limitless.

Melinda tried to be useful in return. She made sure that he drank and ate regularly and healthily. Especially after they had gone back to the clearing and its orchard: Sandal had shown her some mushrooms and berries, before throwing a rune in the river. The following explosion had startled her but not as much as Sandal’s harvest of dead (and slightly mangled) fishes. The environmentalist in her had screamed bloody murder (now she knew why there were scorch marks on the rocks around this poor river). Then she realized that all Sandal ever ate was fish, mushrooms and berries, and the mother hen in her prevailed.

She nonetheless managed to get him to stop fishing with explosives, favoring improvised nets instead. He had been extremely dubious at first, until she fall flat on her back and emerged soaking wet. Then, he deemed the plan extremely fun and enthusiastically joined in (Sandal, as a rule, loved water fights). Without surprise, he was better at it than her.

Determined to help as much as she could (and keep her mind occupied), Melinda had looked through Sandal’s bag with his agreement and discovered a treasure trove: burned clothes that she cut in pieces to make handkerchiefs and towels (and the nets), spices, herbs, a sewing kit that she used to mend his clothes, a first aid kit, knives and tools of all kinds, and many other things that she couldn't identify (she didn’t touch those, she was pretty sure that one of those things was hotter to the touch than it should be)…

All in all, daily life was fine, manageable. However, sometimes (often) she had too much time and opportunity to overthink, and panic threatened to take over. When that happened, she looked through the books, any books, all the books. Most were useless: they were written in languages that she couldn’t read. Some were fascinating: they had gorgeous pictures (yes, she was reduced to picture books, but at least they were the best she had ever seen) depicting tales she invented, bestiaries that were a little frightening, herbariums that were foreign to an Earthling, or old encyclopedias of towns, objects and… spells? Then there were her favorites: the ones who spoke to her mind like old records. Those allowed her to truly focus on an event, a story, and forget about all the rest, all her fear and bewilderment. When she read those, she escaped. She didn’t even had the time to think “oh, mum/dad/my sister/my best friend would love this”. When it ended, her mind was focused on past stories rather than on herself. It was anxiety free. She read many of those books.

The Archivist helped her tremendously. First by answering her questions then, when it failed, by helping her find the best books: those that might give her some answers (she found none that could help her getting back to Earth, just mentions of worlds behind the Fade and the Abyss, nothing about reaching them), those who might soothe her, or simply those who were worth a read.

“A long time ago, the Librarians and I would have been able to help,” the spirit explained sadly. “We would have found the best leads easily for we knew every word and story. But they are asleep and corrupted while I am less and sundered.”

“You already helped me a lot,” she tried to pacify it. It was a little baffling to speak to an ethereal being but the Archivist was so determined to be of assistance and Melinda was so desperate for some communication that she adapted quickly. “You listen and you teach me about this world. Thank you.”

“You wish to learn. You’re desperate to understand. You’re willing to listen, no matter how strange and unwanted the truth is. You’re worthy.”

“Enchantment!”

They turned to Sandal, who was trotting from one side of the room to another for who know what. “What about him?”

“He learns, but he doesn’t share and doesn’t listen,” the Archivist admitted. If it could, it would be pouting. The poor spirit had tried several time to speak to the dwarf but had been ignored.

“Yeah. I guess it’s a good summary,” Melinda agreed. “Excuse me, I think it’s time for lunch and if I don’t get him to take a break now, while he’s not working, I’ll need at least ten minutes to get his attention later.”

_“Dareth shiral.”_

Melinda repeated the farewell in an effort to get the pronunciation right. When the spirit complimented her, she smiled softly. She had to find happiness in the small things. One step at a time, if she just hang on, maybe things would improve… maybe…

… probably not.

 

*

 

How long did she live in this world between realms? Truly, she couldn’t say. At least a few weeks, but how many exactly? A couple? Half a dozen? She had no idea and neither Sandal or the Archivist were the kind to bother about tracking time. To be honest, after a while, she didn’t care either.

This place had a strange effect on her. While the Crossroads were unpleasant, giving her the feeling she shouldn’t be there, the Vir Dirthara was… soothing in a “stop caring about mundane details” way. Once or twice she wondered if the old magic at work here would be detrimental to her, little mortal human earthling. A moment later, this worry was forgotten. With time, her panic became anxiety and the anxiety slowly subsided.  Which was a good thing! Why should she be concerned by less stress, right? And, after all, if she started thinking less and less about what and whom she had left behind on Earth, as well as how she could go back, well… it was just to preserve herself, right? It’s not like she _forgot_ , right? It was… temporary preservation measures, for survival, that’s all. She continued to look for ways to travel to Earth… from time to time… in between devouring books about Elvhen history and culture.

Then her routine was interrupted.

The day had started well enough. Melinda had tried to cook something with the basic tools and ingredients they had (it was a mixed success: not quite what she had planned but edible nonetheless and Sandal liked it), as such they left the camp later than usual.

They were going around the tower housing the Eluvian going to the Crossroads, when Melinda caught sight of them: tall, horned people on the bridge. She squeaked and lunged forward to catch Sandal by the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards before they could be seen. When he tried to protest, she covered his mouth with her other hand and whispered: “Look! There are people. Qunari.”

This was the start of the Trespasser plot! This was bad. She didn’t want to be caught between the Qunari, Fen’harel’s agents and the Inquisition. This way lied death… and it was really crazy that she had accepted she was just in the middle of a video game’s plot.

“We have to leave, Sandal. They won’t let us visit the Library peacefully, they might hurt us.” She was scared, so scared, because this wasn’t just a video game anymore. She was right in the middle of it. She wasn’t controlling a being powerful and brave surrounded by the best that Thedas could offer. She was herself, weak and useless, with a dwarf enchanter whose mind was a wonder she didn’t understand.

Somehow, Sandal grasped the urgency of their situation. He led her back to their campsite, holding her hand like she needed the comfort and not like he needed to be kept away from the scary Qunari warriors (rightly so, she supposed: she remembered the corpse found on this exact place, killed by spears; he’d be fine on his own, not her).

They put their things away in a backpack that Sandal shouldered without any difficulty. Melinda even made sure to catch her friend’s diary, looking around one last time to check that there was nothing left to identify them. Then she heard heavy footsteps coming their way and she pushed the dwarf towards the other side of the tower. They disappeared behind the wall just as a Qunari walked into their campsite and discovered the table for enchantments.

Melinda had stopped to check, peeking quickly and discreetly (those were really Qunari?! with horns and everything?! They were much more impressive in real life than on screen). As soon as she confirmed it, she ran after Sandal as silently as she could.  

Luck was on their side. There was no sentinel guarding the eluvian. They went through and landed in the Crossroads. Once again, no one was around, but Melinda caught sight of a few more shadows here and there.

“We have to leave, Sandal,” she repeated. “This will be a battlefield soon. Do you know any place where we will be safe?”

He offered her his hand without a word. She grabbed it like a lifeline. Without hesitation, he led her through the bridges and the mirrors. Melinda trusted him entirely to find the way. More worried about the people walking around, she watched their surroundings carefully.

Sandal was dragging her to one of the eluvian when she saw him. They were separated by emptiness but, right over there, on a bridge slightly higher, Solas in his ancient armor was watching them. Their eyes met for a second before Sandal took a turn behind a rock and they disappeared from sight.

“Solas,” she breathed in surprise, wide-eyed. Spooked, Melinda stepped up the pace. Solas was a great character… as long as he stayed behind a screen. If she was to meet him, here and now, there was no doubt that—

“Holy shit!” She jumped back suddenly, dragging Sandal with her, her other hand going to her heart as it beat wildly.

The Dread Wolf had appeared right in front of her. He was staring at her intensely, as if she was a mystery he was trying to solve, and she was pretty sure that he was going to dissect her any minute now. While a part of her was terrified at the prospect, another very small and distant one thought: “Wow, he’s _really_ tall for an elf, he’s looking down on me... in every sense of the word.”

“Who are you?” He asked, frowning heavily.

“Uuh…” There was a gap before she felt able to say something intelligible: “Melinda. And this is Sandal.”

Solas briefly looked down at Sandal, who was staring back silently but intensely (like he was judging him: Solas totally should have felt judged, Sandal had never looked at her like that, it would have crept her out), but he came right back at her.

“W—we were just leaving,” she managed to stutter, pointing at the eluvian waiting for them just a few steps behind the ancient elf.

“You’re human,” he stated.

“Yes,” she agreed, nodding her head slowly. That wasn’t what she was expecting from the Dread Wolf. Oh, was he offended that a human was in the Crossroads? Well, it’s not like she _wanted_ to be here: it was ugly and she always felt weak and depressed (more than usual at least) here. She would happily leave it behind (she would just miss the books).

He raised a hand towards her, a glowing hand that hover just above her skin, and ignored her recoil. “Entirely human,” he insisted, frowning, “and yet you’re as deaf to the Fade than a dwarf… no, even more so… like a void in the fabric of the world...”

Oh. The Archivist had mentioned something like this about her inability to sleep well or dream. Melinda hadn’t thought about it much, more distressed by other details, but of course the Fade nerd had noticed… Was it bad? Was she going to die because she wasn’t from this world? That would be even more shitty than she thought possible.

In a moment of clarity, Melinda realized that Solas would be her best best to go back to her world. True, he might just as well dissect her like he seemed to wish to, but there was no-one else alive with his understanding of metaphysics. “That might have something to do wi—”

“You’re the Roamer of the Beyond, the one who will bring back magic like the world once was!” Sandal exclaimed suddenly, as if he had suddenly found the answer to a mystery plaguing him.

Startled, Solas and Melinda blinked at him. The ancient elf was faster to pull himself together and observed Sandal more seriously. “Ah,” he murmured after a wave of his hand, “Mythal’s blood.” He sighed as if it was a personal offence before glancing at Melinda. “Interesting partnership.”

His sudden interest for Sandal unsettled Melinda and she tightened her grip on her friend’s hand, all thoughts of confessing everything giving way to the urge of leaving _right now_. “Excuse me but we’d like to leave before this place overflows with Qunari and ends up as a battlefield.”

“What makes you think it will?”

“Well… They are… them… and you…” She stumbled, gesturing to him and his ancient armor.

“And who am I?”

She floundered before remembering Sandal’s speech and what she had read/experienced in the library. “In elvhen mythology, the Roamer of the Beyond is another name for the Dread Wolf, Fen’harel. Are you? Fen’harel?”

“What if I am?” Stone-faced, Solas looked like he was leading her by the nose.

She huffed. This was getting frustrating. “Well, if you are, it proves my point: I doubt an elvhen god would appreciate Qunari taking control of his domain.”

There was some vague sound coming from far away (or was it close but muffled? The Crossroads were puzzling). Luckily for Melinda, it seemed to remind Solas he had other things to do than play twenty questions with a strange human.

Without looking away from them, the ancient elf stepped aside to let them pass. Melinda could literally _feel_ the silent judging and analysis as he stared at her back. “This is not over, Melinda,” he said as she passed by him, dragging her name as if he was tasting it and trying to divine her story from it.

She hummed in acknowledgement. The eluvian rippled. Sandal passed through. Before she could follow him, a shiver went up her spine and a hand settled on her hip, light and unmoving but warning her not to try anything.

Solas was right behind her, so close that his breathing tickled the back of her neck. “I can’t help but wonder why you wouldn’t question the existence of a god supposed to be thousands of year old,” he whispered.

“I… I just come from the Vir Dirthara. I read a lot there,” she replied, raising her hands in an instinctual move for peace.

“Is that also where you heard the name _‘Solas’_?” If she thought him fearsome before, it was nothing compared to this deep tone of warning rolling with power.

How? She hadn’t pronounced that name… not since… oh God, did he really hear her whisper that? Was elvhen hearing that good? Or was it magic?

She gulped and licked her lips, feeling that the wrong answer would stop any chance of escape, Qunari threat or no. “No. I know it for the same reason you think I’m strange and I think this place’s scary…”

After a long moment of silence, Solas murmured: “We will meet again.”

His touch disappeared and when she turned around, he was nowhere in sight.  

Meeting one of the most complex video characters? _Really_ scary.

 

*

 

She had no time to think about it.

The Eluvian led to what looked like a small storage room. At the door, an old dwarf was hugging Sandal tightly. Then he saw her, blinked, released his grip, and asked with a big smile: “And who is your friend?”

“Uh… Hello, I’m Melinda,” she introduced herself with a small wave. She knew this dwarf but couldn’t remember his name…

“Bodahn Feddic, very pleased to meet you. Come, come sit down.”

They walked in a beautiful sitting room. The light coming from the windows told her that it was late afternoon. She could see a beautiful garden embellished by fountains. This place looked like a noble house or at least a rich merchant’s one. The couch’s damask fabric was so colorful that Melinda felt quite self-conscious to let her worn out dress (the same one she wore since her arrival in this world) touch it.

They had taken place around a low table covered in books. Melinda didn’t fail to notice that Bodahn took precautions as he sat down, as if it pained him.

“Tell me, my dear, how did you meet my boy?” He asked her as soon as they were settled.

“He… saved me?” She started, hesitant, wondering if she should mention the Crossroads or not (did Bodahn know where his son was?). “I was lost, without food and water. He took care of me.” She glanced at Sandal who was swinging his legs and didn’t seem focused on the conversation. “I helped him in return, by cooking or healing him when he needed it, those sorts of things.” She wrung her hands nervously. “I’m sorry to drop by unannounced, we were fleeing from some people…”

“Nonsense my dear!” Bodahn exclaimed, delighted. “Any friend of my son is welcome here! I’m not surprised he helped you, that boy is big-hearted… when he isn’t distracted, that is. I’m glad to hear you took care of him however! He tends to forget about eating properly. I was very worried about that.”

Relieved by this welcome, Melinda smiled softly. “I noticed. He was eating mostly mushrooms and fishes before I arrived.”

“That doesn’t surprise me!” Bodahn tutted and shook his head. “The ancestors must be looking out for him, to send you in this time of need. I’ve taken care of him for years now, you see, but I can’t follow him anymore in my old age and he isn’t the kind to stay put when he has mysteries to solve.”

“Enchantment!”

“Or enchantments to create,” Bodahn agreed without missing a beat. “Tell me, my dear… is there anything or anyone you need to go back to?”

“No…” Not in this world, she amended with a stabbing pain to the heart that stole her breath away.

“Then, maybe you’d be amenable to an offer…”


End file.
